


have yourself a merry little christmas

by Lire_Casander



Series: snowed in [8]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: 12 Days of Tarlos 2020, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28431666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lire_Casander/pseuds/Lire_Casander
Summary: it’s the first christmas they get to celebrate in their new house, and the lights just won’t work
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: snowed in [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056038
Comments: 7
Kudos: 51





	have yourself a merry little christmas

**Author's Note:**

> beta’ed by [meloingly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meloingly). any remaining mistakes are my own
> 
> title from _have yourself a merry little christmas_ , hanson’s version
> 
> written for [12 days of tarlos 2020](https://buckieys.tumblr.com/post/631968766900797440/12-days-of-tarlos-dec-14-25), **_day 11: holiday films_** and **_day 12: merry christmas_**. i cheated a bit and, on top of this being _really_ late, i've combined both prompts.

The fairy lights are still in place when TK peeks over the corner to check they haven't fallen over. Carlos is trying to plug the lights but somethingʼs not working — as much as he clicks on the right buttons and uses the correct plug, the lights won't work. 

“Are they lit already?” Carlos asks, voice muffled as it comes through the walls of their house. They haven't been living in this neighborhood long — in fact, this is the first Christmas season they're spending here — and they wanted to celebrate accordingly. TK understands the tinge of frustration that he can hear in his husbandʼs voice. Their first Christmas as a married couple shouldn’t be marred by uncooperative Christmas lights. 

“No!” he calls back. He skids back inside the house, rushing to Carlos who's struggling with cables and plugs. “Break?” he offers in his best soothing voice.

“Yeah,” Carlos sighs. “Iʼm not ready to admit defeat yet, though.”

“We could always call your father,” TK suggests, even though he knows the answer. As much as Carlos loves his father, heʼs been adamant about calling him to fix things around the house — Carlos has wanted to prove that heʼs capable of tending to his own home. TK has benefited from that stubborn streak of his husband, since it's led them to having sex in unexpected places — like that one time when they had christened the pantry, _after_ having taken out all food from inside, when Carlos had proudly fixed one of the lateral shelves. 

“Only when I admit defeat,” Carlos protests. “A break will do for now.” 

TK smiles up at his husband. He knows Carlos will try again later, and he knows he most likely won't succeed, but TK loves how much effort Carlos puts in everything he does. “You deserve some rest. You've been working on this nonstop for hours. And it's Christmas Eve. How does a movie sound? I can go make some popcorn and you can check Netflix to see which movie we watch.” 

“I know where this is going,” Carlos points out. He steps away from the plugs and the electrical system momentarily, coming closer to TK. “Once we start watching a movie, it'll turn into a marathon, and next thing we know, my dad will be here fixing our lights.” 

“Or,” TK suggests, wiggling his eyebrows. “Or we could enjoy a movie or two, and try again later.” 

TK knows he's won when Carlos engulfs him in a tight hug. “And I get to choose the movie? _Any_ movie?” 

“Not _The Holiday_!” TK exclaims, feigning being aghast. “You have to know all the lines by heart!” 

“As if you can't recite _Love Actually_ in your sleep!” Carlos retaliates. “In fact, I think you once treated me to Andrew Lincolnʼs serenade while you sleepwalked!” 

“That’s not fair, you promised you wouldn't even mention it again!” 

“Okay,” Carlos sighs. He drops a kiss on TKʼs cheek. “I’ll go check Netflix, see if there’s something we both like. You go fetch the popcorn.” 

“And a couple of Cokes!” TK adds as he squirms out of his husbandʼs embrace. “Maybe a Christmas beer for you, if you play your cards well.”

Carlos laughs heartily as TK retreats to the kitchen. He doesn’t hear much once he enters the tiled space — he grabs a couple of bags of popcorn and puts them in the microwave, then saunters to the fridge and opens the door to look inside. There are a few beers he wonʼt touch and his Diet Cokes; making a quick decision, he fetches one of the beers and his own drink, and waits for the popcorn to be done. When he gets out of the kitchen, a grand total of five minutes later, he finds the living room lights already dimmed, _Love Actually_ on the screen, and his husband fast asleep wrapped up in a blanket on the couch. 

“So much for a movie marathon,” he mumbles, turning around and leaving the beer back into the fridge before he comes back to the living room and sits down as carefully as he can besides Carlos, trying not to disturb him. He picks up the remote that has fallen from Carlosʼ grasp and starts the movie. He knows his husband won't mind, and he also wants to let Carlos rest for a bit. 

After all, they're going to open their gifts at midnight — that's the tradition they started the first Christmas they spent together — and Carlos has been working hard on the lights while TK finished decorating the tree they had chosen together. 

Sometime during the wedding — in between the moment when Andrew Lincoln promises Chiwetel Ejiofor that it isn’t like the stag party and the moment when the band starts playing live in the church — Carlos shifts in his sleep until his head is resting against TKʼs leg. TK sighs happily, cradling his husbandʼs head in his hands. He maneuvers Carlos to lie down on his lap, managing to keep him asleep the whole time, and he begins playing with Carlosʼ curls with one hand while he alternates drinking Coke and popping popcorn into his mouth with the other. When the movie ends and Carlos is still asleep, exhausted after a whole day fighting fairy lights, TK decides on watching another movie; putting on _The Holiday_ feels like a betrayal, so he settles for a classic and queues _Itʼs A Wonderful World_. 

He isn’t even twenty minutes in when the tears start falling. 

There’s something healing but also painful in the film. TK is taken back to years ago, when all he wanted was to stop hurting and he held onto any means to that end. He was lucky enough to have his father and to find a new chosen family and to stumble upon Carlos. He was blessed with his husband, he knows that now — even if back then he was scared shitless that he was going to mess everything up. 

“Why are you crying?” Carlos slurs from TKʼs lap, looking up at him with those big brown eyes. He squirms until heʼs got a clear view of the television and he sighs. “I thought we agreed you wouldn't watch this movie alone.” 

“I wasn't alone,” TK reasons. 

“Let me amend that, you're not allowed to watch this movie while there's no one consciously watching it with you.” 

“Spoilsport,” TK mutters, wiping at his tears. 

“What time is it?” 

“Not midnight yet,” he informs his husband, fingers back to carding through those curls that he took long enough to find out — Carlos had always hidden them for his job, but TK simply loved them. “Go back to sleep. I promise Iʼll put another movie up.” 

Carlos hums contentedly while he buries his face against TKʼs stomach, falling back into slumber easily, just like he did everything else. 

Carlos loves TK easily, and heʼs helped TK to learn that love doesn’t always mean strife.

In a few hours, they will be exchanging gifts, and heʼll get to see Carlosʼ exhilarated face at the tool box heʼs gotten him; heʼll get to feigning surprise when he sees the scarf and the gloves Carlos had gotten him — his husband doesn’t know how to keep a secret. TK had known about Carlos’ proposal back in the day for _weeks_ before the cop actually fell on one knee and popped the question — Carlos had been nervous and jumpy and planning weird outings day in and day out, until TK had saved him from his misery and said yes.

There will be time for gifts and celebrating Christmas and welcoming their families to their house. There will be time for Carlos’ dad to fix their lights in time for Christmas, and for TK’s father to saunter into the kitchen and help them maneuver around their new coffee maker, for Marjan and Mateo and Paul to tease them, for Judd and Grace to start singing carols, for Michelle to get there in time for the big Christmas lunch along with Iris and Theresa. There will be time, later. 

But for now, TK is content with holding his husband in his arms and drifting to sleep himself as well, cocooned in the warmth that love has been providing him ever since he first met Carlos.


End file.
